Clarence Dock was a dock on the
River Mersey
The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, and part of the
Port of Liverpool
The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed Dock (maritime), dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, Merseyside, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Great Float, Birkenhead Docks between ...
. Situated in the northern dock system in
Vauxhall
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
, it was connected to
Trafalgar Dock
Trafalgar Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, in England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the northern dock system in Vauxhall and connected to Salisbury Dock to the north. The sites of two former docks are located in the v ...
.
History
Designed by
Jesse Hartley
Jesse Hartley (21 December 1780 – 24 August 1860) was Civil Engineer and Superintendent of the Concerns of the Dock Estate in Liverpool, England between 1824 and 1860.
Hartley's career
Despite having no experience of dock building, Hartley was ...
, the dock opened on 16 September 1830.
Clarence Dock was named after William, Duke of Clarence, who became
William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...
.
It was built as a self-contained steamship dock facility.
This was to avoid the risk of fire to wooden-hulled sailing vessels then using the other docks.
The dock was the principal berth for the Irish ferry ships. During the Irish famine in the 1840s over 1.3 million Irish people travelled through the dock. After many weeks or months, many took a ship to America from
Waterloo Dock, there being fewer direct sailings to America from Ireland at this time. However many thousands made their home in Liverpool. Others moved to London and other British towns and cities in search of work.
The dock closed in 1928,
and in 1929 was filled in when the site was redeveloped as power station.
Clarence Dock power station
Clarence Dock power station was constructed for Liverpool Corporation in 1931 to be an integral part of the local electricity grid system supplying electricity throughout Liverpool. The station plant comprised a low pressure station (No. 1) and a later high pressure station (No. 2) both based on coal-fired, water tube boilers and steam turbine driven
alternator
An alternator is an electrical generator that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current. For reasons of cost and simplicity, most alternators use a rotating magnetic field with a stationary armature.Go ...
s.
The plant in the low pressure station (installed 1931–32) comprised:
Boilers (all coal-fired)
* 4 × 160,000 pounds per hour (20.16 kg/s) of steam at 450
psi
Psi, PSI or Ψ may refer to:
Alphabetic letters
* Psi (Greek) (Ψ, ψ), the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet
* Psi (Cyrillic) (Ѱ, ѱ), letter of the early Cyrillic alphabet, adopted from Greek
Arts and entertainment
* "Psi" as an abbreviation ...
and 775 °F (31.0
bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
and 413 °C)
* 4 × 200,000 lb/hr (25.20 kg/s) of steam at 450 psi and 775 °F (31.0 bar and 413 °C)
Turbo-alternators
* 2 × 51.25 MW twin cylinder
Metropolitan-Vickers
Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...
, 1,500 rpm, 7,250 kV, 3-phase, 50 Hz.
The plant in the high pressure station (installed 1937–53) comprised:
Boilers (all initially coal-fired, converted to oil-firing in the 1960s)
* 6 × 200,000 lb/hr (25.25 kg/s) of steam at 630 psi and 825 °F (43.45 bar and 441 °C)
* 1 × 250,000 lb/hr (31.5 kg/s) of steam at above conditions
* 5 × 350,000 lb/hr (44.1 kg/s) of steam at above conditions
Turbo-alternators
* 5 × 53.5 MW Metropolitan-Vickers, 1,500 rpm, 33 kV, 3-phase, 50 Hz.
The generating capacity, electricity output and thermal efficiency of the stations were as shown in the tables.
By 1972 the No. 1 station had been decommissioned and the No. 2 station converted to oil firing. The No. 2 station was decommissioned in the early 1980s.
The three large chimneys of the Clarence Dock Power Station were a familiar local landmark, known as the ''Three Sisters'', until the power station was demolished in 1994.
Present
![SY Nahlin, Clarence Graving Dock, Liverpool - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/SY_Nahlin%2C_Clarence_Graving_Dock%2C_Liverpool_-_geograph.org.uk_-_604869.jpg)
The two Clarence Graving Docks are still extant and accessible via what remains of
Trafalgar Dock
Trafalgar Dock is a dock on the River Mersey, in England, and part of the Port of Liverpool. It is situated in the northern dock system in Vauxhall and connected to Salisbury Dock to the north. The sites of two former docks are located in the v ...
. On 17 July 2006, Irish vocal pop band
Westlife
Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...
held a concert for their
Face to Face Tour
This is the 5th world tour of the Irish pop band Westlife seen by 395,000 fans.
This tour set a goal that they will play in smaller venues and for smaller audiences to justify the title "Face to Face". The filmed video album for this tour came f ...
supporting their album
Face to Face.
As part of the
Liverpool Waters
Liverpool Waters is a large scale £5.5bn development that has been proposed by the Peel Group in the Vauxhall area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The development will make use of a series of presently derelict dock spaces at Central Docks ...
development, Clarence Dock will become one of the clusters of tall buildings. It was one of the two clusters of tall high-rise buildings which have been agreed between
Peel Holdings
The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes in its former ports ...
and
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
.
In 2004 it was proposed that a 60,000 seater stadium for
Everton FC
Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club was a founder member of the Football League in 1888 and has compe ...
be built at Kings Dock by the Mersey Docks & Harbour Company and the NWDA. This would have included a rapid rail service to be financed by the
NWDA. Nothing became of this. However in 2016 Northern docks emerged as one of two possible new locations for a new ground for Everton.
References
Sources
*
*
Further reading
*
External links
*
Site of Clarence Dock aerial photoClarence Dock Power Station photo
{{Port of Liverpool docks
Liverpool docks
Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in Merseyside
Clarence Dock
1830 establishments in England